Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers (often erroneously spelt Meyers) is a biology professor at University of Minnesota Morris (UMM). He created Pharyngula and is not particularly fond of religion; for these crimes, he gets email. He is licensed to carry an atheist cyberpistol.

Contents 1 Youthful interest in science 2 Career 3 Research 4 Outreach 4.1 Conferences 4.2 Interviews and podcasts 4.3 Messageboard moderation 5 Politics 6 References 7 See also

Youthful interest in scienceEdit

PZ says:

I grew up poor with no expectation that I’d even be able to go to college; my father had me all lined up for a nice union blue collar job when I lucked into a full scholarship (doing extraordinarily well on those standardized tests paid off). I went to a public school with an, as I now know in hindsight, awful science program (with one or two bright spots, thank you Mr Thompson), and got negligible exposure to science. But I loved the stuff myself; I followed the space program zealously, I dissected road kill, I hiked the woods and hills around my home, and I read like a maniac — I lived in the local library and read Scientific American and Natural History and Smithsonian and National Geographic, and I finished all the science books in the children’s section before I was 11 and pestered the librarians to let me check out adult books. I cared enough about how the world worked to struggle to understand it[.]

CareerEdit

In 2011, Prof. Myers was elected chair of the biology department at the University of Minnesota.

ResearchEdit

Prof. Myers' research is in evo-devo, using the zebrafish, Danio rerio, a common aquarium fish. A major part of his research is about the effects of alcohol (CH3CH2OH) on embryonic development. He does this research by giving zebrafish embryos big doses of alcohol and then looking for abnormalities.

• Developing under the influence: zebrafish in alcohol – Pharyngula
• Cellular responses to alcohol – Pharyngula
• Trying too hard – Pharyngula
• Thoughts and Findings Related to Neurobiology Lab – Pharyngula - by a student
• More Fish – Pharyngula - by another student

OutreachEdit

Prof. Myers main outreach tools are his blog, Pharyngula; his teaching at UMM; and talks at conferences and other events, both within and outside the U.S., as well as interviews with news media. A book is in progress.

ConferencesEdit

• Atheists in Austalia
• Centre for Inquiry in Canada
• Atheists in Sweden

Interviews and podcastsEdit

See Point of Inquiry and other websites.

Messageboard moderationEdit

Prof. Myers had been a moderator of the Evolution/Creation forum at the Internet Infidels Discussion Board (IIDB), which is now the Freethought and Rationalism Discussion Board (FRDB). But on May 18, 2004, he stepped down. Two weeks later, IIDB's management announced that it was accepting theist moderators.

PoliticsEdit

Myers is politically liberal.

ReferencesEdit

See alsoEdit

• Notable PZ Quotes